Let’s misbehave: Cell phone technology and audience behaviors

Abstract

This chapter discusses the ways in which cell phone technology has impacted the behaviors of audiences within the context of live performances of musical theatre. It first provides a brief overview of the history of cell phone use in the United States before moving on to a series of case studies involving audience misbehavior facilitated by, and unique to, this technology. A fundamental tension is found between conceptions of community as imagined on musical theatre stages as opposed to those created by cell phone use.